Gluten Free Asiago Pasta with a side of best friends

it has been a CRAZY couple of weeks.  crazy, i tell you.

ugly action with the dog.

my best friend lisa came to town and boy, we made an ugly of it.  because both of us are poor, we didnt do alot of things that cost money, though i did alot of driving.  we drove around the city, drove around oakland, drove to reno...drive drive drive.  ok, maybe it wasnt THAT crazy. but it was so fun, and chill, and relaxing.  and just....nice.  its so nice to have a friend who knows your history without having to relive your high water pants, brace face, and hair disasters just to get the point across.  

because my family moved alot, i dont have a place that i "grew up" but i do have childhood friends-lisa is one of the girl i met and befriended in 6th grade.  16 years later, we are still best friends.  and thats the only bit of having a "childhood place" that i have.  and i am grateful for friends like her, cuz i seem to have gotten the best part of the deal.  

the three musketeers, reunited!

in reno, we hung out with eileen, another childhood friend-and while we all have seen each other over the years, the three of us have never been together-until now!

but now lisa has left, and its back to every day life.  one of the things i have tried to do more often recently (now that, you know, i have time to do something other than stuff sugar into my mouth while i study for the bar) is cook dinner.  ambitious, i tell ya.  

i heart cooking.  i dunno when this happened.  i remember getting a childs cookbook when i was about 8 and my parents had me help them cook dinner one night.  i hated every second of it.  in between stirring the spaghetti sauce, i screamed at my parents about how stupid it was that i had to cook.  i could survive on wheat bread and bologna and oreos for the rest of my life, thankyouverymuch.  no cooking required.  the next 10 years didnt change anything; my mom told me, as she dropped me off at my dorm my first year of college (complete with a meal plan at the dorm cafeteria) , that if i had to cook for myself, id starve.  thanks for the vote of confidence, mom.  i ended up avoiding the cafeteria most days, and lived almost entirely on cheddar cheese, rolls with nutella, and dry lucky charms.  and i was happy.

so happy.

and then life blew up on me.

or, at least, my body decided it hated the food pyramid and would rather live a life confined to a food trapezoid instead.

i was diagnosed with celiac disease.  a difficult diagnosis for the average gluten consumer, but devastating for a girl with a pure italian great grandmother, raised on pasta, and who was known among her family as "the Bread Queen."

BUT I WILL HAVE MY PASTA!!!  

and i do!  some good gluten free pasta works wonders, and my favorite brand is Tinkyada.  almost imperceptibly different.  

now that spring/summer is definitely upon us, i wanted to make a lighter pasta dish.  this recipe was inspired by a good friend of mine who frequents farmers markets-lots of fresh veggies tossed with the pasta and sprinkled with asiago cheese.  MMMMMMM!  and between my high maintenance eating and me and lisa's minimal budgets, this dinner was amazing.  nomnomnomnom....

horrible picture, i know.  but soooo good.

Asiago Pasta 
(forgive the lack of pictures...i was busy stuffing my face)

8 oz pasta (i recommend penne or spirals [gluten free of otherwise])
1 zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 yellow squash, sliced and quartered
1 bell pepper, sliced and halved
1/2 carton sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion, sliced and halved
grape tomatoes, halved
fresh basil, chopped (optional)
1 cup grated asiago cheese (you can use any hard cheese like parmesan if you prefer)

cook the pasta in a pot of salted water.  drain and set aside.

slice up the veggies.  in a large pan (i mean LARGE, you are gonna have to dump the pasta into here too later), heat over medium high heat and drizzle with olive oil.  add the bell pepper onion and mushrooms to the pan.  let saute for a few minutes.  

add the tomatoes, zucchini and squash to the pan.  saute about 10-15 minutes. this part is really up to you though: the longer, the softer the veggies.  if you like them crunchier, then cut down the time.

season veggies with salt, pepper, and garlic while cooking.

add the pasta to the pan and toss together.  sprinkle the basil and cheese over the pasta, tossing as you go.  toss over heat until the cheese is melted, or continue until the cheese gets crunchy in spots.  

ENJOY!

disclaimer: i do no pretend to be a food blogger.  i did not facetiously take pictures while i was cooking to make it appear as such.  i just love food.  alot.  alotalotalot. 

gluten free chewy chocolate chip heaven

the other day, brian told me that he wanted some chocolate chip cookies.  but i cant just make him some when i cant eat any of them.  so of course i had to make some for me.  now that would be easy if i didnt have to worry about, you know, the main ingredient.  thanks, celiac, for allowing wheat to destroy my intestine.

anyways, i have tried alot of variations of chocolate chip cookies-different recipes, different flours, and had all sorts of funny results.  but go figure, the best recipe so far has been my mother-in-laws.  brian loves it because they come out chewy and gooey, and i love it because, besides being chewy, they come out normal. which is just AWESOME.

so recipe down, now what about the flour?  the best mix i have come across so far has been from this cook book, Cooking for Isaiah.  i make it in bulk but ill break it down for the recipe if you dont want to make a huge amount of it.  mmmmm dont those look good?!  sorry for my bad pic, but as you can tell, these cookies dont last too long...

bulk flour:

6 cups rice flour, white or brown
3 cups tapioca flour
1 1/2 cups potato starch
1 tbs salt
2 tbs xanthum gum

brenda's chocolate chip cookies:

1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter, super soft but not melted
2 eggs
3 cups gluten free flour mix (substitute regular flour if you arent gluten free-still fabulous)
(1 3/4 cups rice flour, 3/4 cups tapioca flour, 1/2 c potato starch, 1 tsp xanthum gum)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350º. Mix sugars, butter and eggs. Then add flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and as many chocolate chips as you like. Bake for eight minutes, and let cool. cookies will look very under done, but take out when the edges start to turn light brown.

this recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies, and is easily doubled (since this version is actually HALF of my mother-in-laws proportions...)

enjoy!

the joy of cooking

my birthday is on monday. yay!  because brians birthday is only 13 days ahead of mine, my parents split the difference and celebrate our birthday together the weekend between the actual days. this means i got most of my presents already!


and i got what i wanted. a new gluten free cookbook!


its called cooking for isaiah, and i discovered it through an article on the aol homepage.  why was i so excited about this? i have several gf cookbooks that im not in love with, so what made this one any different?


the fact that the woman is italian american.


call me crazy, but my great grandmother was pure italian, and i just knew that this book would be more like the kind of cooking i grew up with.  and i have not been disappointed.


well, i say that, but ive only made one thing out of it so far.  but ALL of the recipes look great!  my husband insists im a picky eater-i dont think so!  i just like the style of cooking and food that my mother and grandmother make, and which is how i now cook.  lots of herbs, meat, veggies and starches, and no canned soups or casseroles.  my husband, who grew up on casseroles (with 6 kids and 5 of them hungry, bottom less males, who blames his mother??).  but recipes that use alot of boxed or canned things just dont appeal to me.


im super excited about the idea that i could make some really awesome things that i already know i will like.  and my gluten free bread?  well, the second time around it came out amazing.  lesson-wax paper and parchment paper are def NOT the same...

infected with dorkitis

holy crap. february was a BUSY month. i dont know about you, but for me, the older i get, the faster time goes...i was hoping my second 20 years would go as slowly as my first 20, but so far, thats not happening. at this rate, ill be looking at 36 waaaaaay fast than 16, i swear.

first of all, still gluten free. getting more frustrating as social events begin to pop up but oh well...ill just have to shed a tear every time someone suggests we go for pizza.

second-i actually made it onto a team that i tried out for! no no, i didnt suddenly become athletic. but i am i nerd of the highest degree...i made it onto the trial advocacy team! basically, its like a mock trial where you have witnesses and you try to argue your case-there is no "winner" but you go to the next round based on your individual score-and i made it to quarter finals! super stoked but super surprised as well. law and order, here i come.

thirdly, i have completely and unapologetically embarrassed all of my middle school classmates this month. see, my best friend lisa decided that she wanted me to post an old and emabarrassing picture of myself as my facebook profile picture. so she proceeded to send me a bunch of horrendous pictures. not just a few, but her whole collection of pictures from middle school, most of which featured my awkwardness but quite a few that featured other peoples awkwardnesses as well. now i have gotten some flack for this, but i dont care.

i mean, if we did THIS at my wedding....

then why should they be embarrassed by THIS????

thats what i thought.